Unlike most of Machen's other works, The Secret Glory is not usually considered a work of horror. Instead it is a semi-autobiographical tale of a young man, Ambrose Meyrick, and his attempt to struggle through the public school system all the while preoccupied with a childhood memory of the Holy Grail hidden in his native Wales. Arthur Machen is the pen name of Arthur Llewellyn Jones. Born in Wales in 1863, he went on to become one of the most respected horror writers of all times. Many prominent authors (from that time and the present) admired him -- Lovecraft, Arthur Conan Doyle, Oscar Wilde, and H.G. Wells to name only a few.